ge Spontaneous Decomposition of a Fabric of Silk. 



a full account of his invention, and of the different methods 

 of using it, and to show how at the time of large conflagra^ 

 tions it may be employed to most advantage to save the lives 

 of men, and valuable articles. 



A trial of this powder was made at Wolfenbuttel on the 

 11th of December, and it fully answered tl\e expectation 

 which had been formed of it, 



SPONTANEOUS DECOMPOSITION OF A FABRIC OF SILK*. 



On the night of March 19, 1802, during the session of 

 congress at Washington, Jonathan Dayton, one of the se- 

 nators then attending from the state of New Jersey, sus^ 

 tained a loss of a pair of black silk stockings in an uncom-' 

 mon manner. On undressing himself at bed-time, his stock- 

 ings were the last of his garments which he took off. The 

 weather being cold, he wore two pair, the inner of wool and 

 the outer of silk. When he stripped off the silk stockings, 

 h-e lot them drop on a woollen carpet lying by the bed-side j 

 and one of his garters, which was of white woollen ferretin, 

 fell down with the stockings. The under-stockings, on 

 being pulled off, were thrown at some distance, near the 

 foot ot the bed. He observed, on separating and removing 

 the silk stockino-s from the woollen ones, that there was an 

 unusual snapping and sparkling of electric matter. But as 

 he had been long acquainted with the appearance, it at- 

 tracted but transient notice. 



He fell asleep, and remained undisturbed until morning, 

 when the servant entered to kindle the fire. The man ob- 

 served that one of the leather slippers, lying on the carpet, 

 and partly covered by one of the stockings, was very much 

 burnt. Mr. Dayton then rose, and found that the leather 

 over which the stockings had lain was converted to a coal. 

 The stockings were changed to a brown, or what is com- 

 monly caHeci a butternut colour. And although, to the eye, 

 the stitches of the legs, and even the threads of their clocks, 

 •appeared to be firm and entire; y^et, as soon as an attempt 

 xvas made to touch and handle them, they were found to be 

 wholly destitute of cohesion, their texture and structure be- 

 ing; altogether destroyed. Nothing but a remnant of car- 

 bonic matter was left, except that a part of the heel of one 

 of the stockings was not decomposed. 



Though this destruction of the stockiiig* took place dur- 

 ing the night, when nobody saw the manner and circum- 

 stances of the process, yet there was evidence enough of 



* From the American Medical Repository, vol. v, 



the 



